Sunday 20 April 2014

Orange Peel Cake


This is an in-your-face orange cake. It screams OH-RANGE! There is orange juice, orange zest and orange peel in the cake and orange slices on the cake. Honestly I found it much too orangey but the orange aficionados will love this orangey buttery cake.




I found this recipe in a cookbook by Alex Goh and I thought the cake looked rather pretty. I am a sucker for pretty pictures in cookbooks and I can stare at them for hours. This cake calls for 150g of orange peel and I wasn't sure what that meant. Candied orange peel or just plain old orange peel. Mr Goh's cookbook is bilingual and I reckon the original text is in Chinese. This is where confusion can happen and things get lost in translation. My partner was not around to read the original text so I went ahead with my own interpretation. Just like how I went ahead with my own theories when I sat for my physics paper.




This butter cake uses the egg separation method and calls for 6 eggs whites and 9 egg yolks. I like that - 9 egg yolks, my favorite part of the egg. This method produces a fluffier texture BUT only if you mixed the egg yolk batter and the stiff egg whites properly. I did not do a good job on this occasion and over mixed the batter. That resulted in a dense cake. 


Thin slice of cake. Not for me :)

I baked this cake in a 9" springform pan and had to tent the cake after 45 minutes because the top was already brown but the cake was still not cooked in the center. It was smelling very good - buttery aroma with a nice orange scent. That was a promising sign and my only concern was if the cake would be too sweet even though I reduced the sugar.


As usual, the cake cracked. But it is OK because it is going to be flipped.

When the cake was done, I let it cool for about 15 minutes before unmoulding it. Because the top of the cake was domed, the sides lacked support when flipped over resulting in some slight cracks at the center. But it was fine and I liked the look of the cake.




The next morning I glazed the cake with some peach jam. As I sliced the cake, I could detect some resistance and I knew I had a dense cake. Moment of truth. I had my first bite and Kapow! OH-Range! It was a mouthful of sweet citrusy sensation. Nice but it was a bit too much for me. But I am not saying that I didn't like it because I finished the whole slice and it was a big slice. The candied orange peel had a chewy texture and it was as if there were orange flavored gummy bears in the cake.


Fat slice of cake. It looks better that the thin one. Can this be said for us chunky girls? Please say yes.

I reckon you can bake this cake using your favorite basic butter cake recipe. Just add the orange components and you have yourself an Orange Peel Cake or maybe we can also call this an Orange Upside Down Cake.  








Orange Peel Cake
Recipe source : Creative Making of Cakes by Alex Goh (page 52)

Ingredients :
- 250g butter
- 100g sugar (I used 60g)
- pinch of salt
- 9 egg yolks
- 60ml orange juice (I used juice from 1 orange)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 6 egg whites
- 140g sugar (I used 60g)
- 250g flour (I used self-raising)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 30g ground almonds
- 150g orange peel (I used candied orange peel, cut into small pieces)

Method :
1. Grease and line a 9" round mould. Slice an orange into thin slices and arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the mould. Set aside.
2. Cream butter, sugar and salt until light and creamy.
3. Add egg yolks one by one and cream until smooth and light.
4. Add orange juice and orange zest and mix well. Set aside.
5. Whip egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks and fold into the butter mixture until evenly blended.
6. Add flour and ground almonds (I sifted flour and then used a whisk to evenly mix the flour and ground almonds) and fold until evenly blended.
7. Lastly add orange peel and mix until well combined.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven at 160C for 60 minutes or until skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.




Photobucket

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Ann of Anncoo Journal.


This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #11 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

44 comments:

  1. Oh Range.....cake again ah.....so cheated la :p

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    1. Hoi, this is PH Bakes mah,,,,don't worry I will be cooking again when there is water during the weekends. Beef Curry and Kay Hong Version 2.0 coming soon.

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  2. Great orange cake! Full orange flavour cake.....this is the cake for those who loves orange and cake!

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    1. Mel, this cake is specially for butter cake and orange lovers. Perfect match!

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  3. Hi, PH. I have been thinking to bake the same cake from the same book since 2 weeks ago but finally I gave up when I saw the 150g orange peel and I don;t have a 9 inch cake mould at home. Your cake looks so nice!

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    1. Hi Jozelyn! You can just use zest from one orange in place of the orange peel. I feel that there is too much orange peel and the orange flavour needs to be toned down.

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  4. I am tuk-tuk-ing from my phone. So I can't type so much ahh.. First glance reminds me of pineapple upside down cake, but this uses oranges.. Nice.. At first I thought it was some jelly or what.. It looks so refreshing and so citrusy.. Chunky girl? Am laughing alone right now.. Show me your face first..

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    1. Morning morning.. Am back.. Thought of your orange upside down cake when I see your name in my blog list.. When you say orange peel cake, I thought you used your previous orange peels to make the cake.. By the way, the orange peels finished jor mei?

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    2. Hi Louiz! I did use my previous orange peel in this cake. But the orange flavour is too strong. Less is better. I still have one more small jar of orange peel. Hope to use it soon.

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  5. Hi Phong Hong, I've been wanting to try this cake too but same as Jozelyn, I put off the idea of baking it as it is also quite a big cake to me.
    Anyway your orange cake looks pretty, I don't mind to have a small slice of it.
    Thanks for joining this month LTU - Orange theme.

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    1. Hi Ann! This cake looks nice but too much orange! I reckon using less of the orange peel would be better.

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  6. Hi Phong Hong, oh a lovely bright 'OH RANGE' cake!

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    1. Hi Karen! Yes, this cake is like sunshine but too orangey for me :(

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  7. Hi Phong Hong, it's a lovely cake, quite extraordinary, though. The homemade candied orange peel comes in good here.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! Yes, used the candied orange peel but I should have used half the amount stated. Lesson learnt!

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  8. Peel? That's the whole orange! I thought you would grate the orange on a grater for the peel to make the cake. Oh? That's just the topping! Great job, looks good!

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    1. Thanks, Arthur! I reckon just using the zest from one orange is good enough as the orange peel made taste too strong.

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  9. Mmmmm! I can already imagine the flavour! Must be quite refreshing.

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    1. Hi Kelly! It is refreshing but would be better if the flavours were more subtle.

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  10. Hehe so much orange.... it is like a burst of sunshine ya? ;)

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  11. Very beautiful orange slices topping! I bet this is yummy!

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    1. Hi Esther! Yes, it was good but a little too strong.

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  12. Pretty and orangey cake! I am lazy in the baking department these day. :P

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    1. Oh, I can understand that! I get lazy too from time to time :)

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  13. PH, the cake looks pretty, must be tasted yummy too!

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    1. Jess, it was good but less orange would be better.

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  14. What a gorgeous cake! Thanks for your honest review...maybe leaving out some of the zest/peel would lessen the orange intensity.

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    1. Thank you, Lizzy! You are darn right!

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  15. oh, very delicious cake, all orange and all orange!! hmm, wonder why you did not have orange sacs in there, would be fun to have the sacs burst in the mouth into juices when having a bite of the cake, hahahaha!! but then i guess this is good enough, it looks rich and it looks moist, just the way i love cakes!! :)

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    1. Hi SK! There was another recipe that uses the whole orange - skin and sacs in the cake. But the oranges had to be boiled in sugar syrup first. Too much trouble so I opted for this one :)

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  16. This cake looks amazing! I definitely want a cake that is screaming orange, I LOVE orange :)

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    1. Hi Cathleen! This might be the cake for you then :)

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  17. Cake looks pretty and love that there's a lot of orange in it. I love it when the cake smells orangey, i mean real orange not just flavoring which sometimes happen with store bought ones. With homemade ones like this, just smelling it makes me happy already :)

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    1. Oh yes, the smell was lovely! I took deep breaths in the kitchen hah..hah...but I find it a tad too orangey. Will adjust in my next bake.

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  18. Oh wow 9 egg yolks! BUt I would happily sacrifice the calories because I simply love orange cake.

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    1. Hi Mich! I liked the idea of 9 yolks but less orange peel would have been better.

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  19. Hi Phong Hong, very delightful cake, look so moist and I'm sure the fragrant scent of the orange must be real gooood. Thanks for sharing the recipe..

    Have a nice week ahead,regards.

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    1. Hi Amelia! It is the orangest cake I have ever eaten hah...hah...

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  20. Hi Phong Hong,
    A lovely orangey cake! I would use candied orange peel too, my guess that was what he meant! I have this book too, but have not tried making this cake before. Your cake looks really moist and yummy!
    Thanks for linking to CYB!

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    1. Hi Joyce! At least my candied orange peel was put to good use :)

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  21. Replies
    1. there is another type my colleague's mom used to make...the top layer have bit of "agar agar" then inside the jelly are fruits. the cake are normal cake like this

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    2. Oh...that sounds like a nice cake! I must look for a recipe like that and try.

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